


Ascension

by cellularskies



Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-24
Updated: 2014-12-24
Packaged: 2018-03-03 05:06:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2839121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cellularskies/pseuds/cellularskies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>- She inherits a throne of blood and bones with a terrible view.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ascension

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thousandmonkeys](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thousandmonkeys/gifts).



0.  
Her earliest memories are a jumble of puzzle pieces that don't, won't, fit together. The many pieces that uselessly slip through her fingers are the same, tinged black by perpetual darkness and stained red with blood, blood that is never her own. 

Such memories are not worth saving, she later muses, and coldly, she disposes of every last piece.

But for some reason, a twinge of regret will always accompany this assertion, and it is almost as though there is something right there in front of her that she simply refused to see at the time.

(Occasionally, a phantom of gentle warmth envelops her body, but she thinks nothing of it.) 

1.  
Life in the 24th ward is harsh and brutal, and only the strongest and luckiest survive. At five, Eto falls into the latter, lucky enough to be traversing the labyrinthine abyss with a relatively compassionate and powerful ghoul, one that doesn't mind sharing. 

Maybe now she is only incredibly lucky, but in a year, her rise will begin. 

In three, she will be strong. 

In ten, she will be feared. 

In twenty - 

She will be the feared.

2.  
The ghoul that calls herself Narukami is only twelve, going on thirteen, but Eto has enough experience to know that that the girl has been gifted with power far beyond that of the typical ghoul. With impressive speed and reaction time, Narukami, Eto deems, is worthy of surviving in the unforgiving 24th ward, and for that she respects the older ghoul.

"Eto, listen carefully," Narukami says one day, facing away from her as she takes spoils from the freshly slain ghouls. "In this world, you either step upon the bones of others..."

"Or?"

The older ghoul looks back, a eeriely serene smile on her blood splattered face.

"Or be the one who's being stepped on." 

3.  
When she is six, nearly seven, Eto kills a ghoul for the first time. 

Admittedly, Narukami had greatly weakened the foe beforehand, but Eto is the one whose new kagune ultimately fells the opponent, and a euphoric feeling rushes through her blood that she's never felt before.

As Eto silently celebrates, Narukami worriedly murmurs under her breath. 

Eto only catches bits - "one eye", "not possible", "too early", but she already knows, already understands that she is not like the others.

"It's not your fault," the older ghoul insists later on.

("It can't be helped that you were born that way.")

4.  
When she first encounters it, Eto is awestruck by the tantalizing scent, much better than that of the ghouls that they hunted weekly to sate their hunger. 

Unfortunately for her mind, her body has already decided that quality trumps quantity, and before she knows it, she is running, running, and she strikes, attacking what seem to be helpless ghouls with a vicious flurry projectiles. 

It's utterly pathetic that they don't fight back with their kagunes, she thinks, as she cleanly decapitates one and rips out the throat of another with one clean stroke.

They're shouting at her before turning on their heels to run the other way, but Eto will not let this feast to get away.

But then, a woman in white steps forward, defiantly proposing a challenge. 

5.  
Narukami stares at her, stunned, looking at the limbs which litter the floor of their most recent hiding place. 

The older ghoul had been making more excursions to the other wards, and while Eto does not understand it clearly, she knows the ghoul plans on bringing her there too one day. 

"Where... where did you get this?" Narukami asks, exhaustion (or is that apprehension?) clear on her face.

"There were nice smelling ghouls that couldn't fight back at all, except for this one woman - but I killed her too. Unfortunately, I couldn't come back with her body."

Soaked to the teeth in blood and other visceral fluids, Eto feels quite pleased at the feast that she's found, but Narukami only looks at her wordlessly before taking her share. 

(Later, after Narukami explains to Eto the truth of things, Eto begins to notice something haunting the older ghoul's eyes - something that previously she had only seen in those of their victims. 

Fear.) 

6.  
Narukami had expressed concerns about Eto's ability to resist attacking the humans everywhere (the last thing they need was to get on the CCG's radar again), but fortunately, the girl's attention was fully devoted the bustling city. 

Eto's eyes flit from human to human, trying to fully take in the sight of people doing things with each other other than killing and eating. 

It is utterly fascinating, and Eto is disappointed when they have to trade the bright city lights for the dreary darkness.

(Darkness that someone had put her in.)

7.  
"You haven't ever wondered about how your parents are?" Narukami asks, squinting at the near illegal scrawl. 

"We're trying to crack this journal for two years, no?" Eto replies, quickly transcribing another section of her only memento of her parents.

For a moment, it seems as if the older ghoul wants to say something (lies lies lies) but decides not to, instead reaching for another dictionary.

(But they both know that Eto is lying.)

8\. 

Eto impassively watches the newspaper cutout burn. 

Narukami's face warps and blackens in the flame until it is nothing more than ashes. It is not the funeral Eto would have wanted for her friend, but with no body, courtesy of the CCG, she supposes this is the closest she can get. 

Eto is thirteen, almost fourteen, and alone again.

9.  
Before she could remember Narukami, Eto supposes she had been alone, though she barely bothers think back on those days. 

She may have been alone then, but she hadn't been lonely. 

10.  
She goes through many names in her campaign against the CCG, and Eto is almost flattered by the amount of detail involved in the matter.

When she makes her first official appearance, slaughtering a Special Class Investigator in broad daylight, they call her X.

Soon after she makes it rain blood on the 2nd Ward branch, they call her Owl. 

A little while after that, they change it to One-Eye Owl.

Almost a decade later - 

(She is the one who _kills_.) 

11.  
She hears that the Owl has struck the 2nd Ward yet again but unlike the CCG, Eto knows the truth. 

She supposes it's her father, but the thought only chills her with hate - even more so than her recklessness during her last attack against the CCG - 

(Because, father, where were you when you left me in the dark? 

Where were you when I had to fight my own kind and devour them?

Where were you _my whole life?_ )

12.  
There is something therapeutic about watching the pages of her parents' journal burning. 

Eto mechanically continues to toss the papers into the hungry flames, not hesitating as the last entry joins the rest. 

She stands up and leaves, not watching as the words "I love you" fade away in a sea of black.

13.  
In the ten years that come to pass, she is much too busy with Aogiri and Takatsuki Sen to worry about a father that is only father in name. 

14.  
Admittedly, this is not how she had expected their reunion to go, though the irony is delicious. 

Carefully holding her stomach, she jumps over the edge of the building and flees from the CCG's death god, gauging that her goal is more important than some petty revenge. After getting a safe distance away, Eto spits out her father and relishes the moment the old man's eyes widen in disbelief.

When he utters her name, she is disappointed to find that there is nothing special about the way he says it.

(Then again, when hadn't he disappointed her?)

**Author's Note:**

> (Whelp, sorry for turning this in a little late, but AO3 formatting is confusing as heck and this computer is really bugging me.)
> 
> I love the idea of exploring Eto's relationship with Yoshimura, but seeing as they probably only met each other again during the Anteiku raid, it becomes hard to figure out how to expand on it beyond Eto cursing the parents she never met. Thus it felt fitting to closely tie her rise to infamy as a ghoul to her relationship with her father, though I don't think I got that across all that well... 
> 
> As for Narukami, I just needed someone to take care of Eto during her vunerable years in the 24th ward and introduce the two worlds that Eto has to live in. Also, the irony is funny.
> 
> Anyhow, enjoy the holidays, everyone, and to thousandmonkeys, I hope you enjoy this little gift!


End file.
